Carin Talero, Business Product Associate Manager
at Smartmatic, played a key role during the “Tu Barrio Gana” initiative, where
the company provided an e-voting solution on Chile.
As a member of the team, Carin
coordinated the activities of the management and operative teams. She was also in charge of interacting
directly with the client.
As we celebrate Democracy Day, we had a
chance to ask Carin about this milestone.
How
did you think the Chilean public received this technology?
The reception was very positive
especially among senior voters who found that it was really easy to mark their
choices directly on the screen. They told me that it was very convenient to validate
their vote both on the screen and against the printed voucher the machines
generate.
How
do you think Smartmatic promotes changes and improvements in democracies?
A project like this is a clear example
of how technology can strengthen democracies.
With “Tu Barrio Gana”, citizens were
able to let the government know which things are really important to them. The government, in turn, uses the citizen’s
inputs to make the budget. By including
citizens in the crucial act of resource allocation, governance is made more
inclusive.
Democracy is not just about electing a
president every 4 or 5 years. Public consultation is every bit as important in governance, and
our technology is enabling all this to take place.
Another important contribution of
technology is the generation of trust among the electors and the public at
large. Our technology guarantees to the
voter and all other parties involved that the people’s will is respected.
Personally,
what do you take from this project?
I was pleasantly surprised that in
Chile the population is consulted frequently about their budgetary
priorities. Ultimately, they are the
ones who really know their needs.
Also,
the level of organization shown by the population in this Chilean commune
impressed me. Different citizen
organizations, social, sporting and educational ones, made proposals to give
the population a voice. This level of citizen empowerment
speaks highly of Chilean democracy.
Any
anecdote you would like to share?
Our coworkers Larissa, Ivan and Mariana
remember very fondly that in one of the poll stations at the end of the day,
the municipal staff was ready with pencils and notebooks to count the votes and
tally results, as they saw the machines generating and printing results
immediately. They were really, really surprised. The representative of the organization that
proposed the project which got the most votes was so happy that he hugged the
machine, and told our coworkers that he wanted to congratulate the inventor.
“Please say thanks to the creator”, he said. He didn’t think the count would be
over so quickly, and he beamed while his people started celebrating with horns
and whistles.
Carin
Talero
Business Product Associate Manager
